


Lost Dogs

by Mabarigroomer



Category: Midnight Poppy Land (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Dogs, Eventual Romance, F/M, Midnight in poppy land references, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, made up Narin Mythos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:33:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29765925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mabarigroomer/pseuds/Mabarigroomer
Summary: Sophie, a 20 something dog-lover from Moonbright finds more than she bargained for. While tracking down a stray dog to an abandoned farm house, she finds a scared young man with blue black hair and intense gold eyes. Sophie soon ends up a different type of stray following her home.
Relationships: Goliath (Midnight Poppy Land)/Other(s), OC - Relationship, Tora/Poppy Wilkes, homebrew character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Stray

Sophie stood in front of the ladies room mirror attempting to compose herself; she was not going to quit. As awful as the job was, how ungrateful the customers were she could not afford to quit Sandy’s Pub...At least until she had something else to land on. She massaged her temples, took a deep breath. It seemed like every shift was the same thing, if it wasn’t the customers it was the lead waitress Pam or that “fuck head” Ted the night manager.

She managed to wipe away most of the smudges from her mascara around her green eyes and checked her auburn hair for unruly strands. The place was a dump but she still wanted to look at least presentable. Taking another cathartic breath she forced herself into the dining area.

  
Sandy’s Pub had been open for nearly fifteen years and prided itself for being a local favorite and the only bar and restaurant open past nine pm in Moonbright. That being said, the quality of food and management had gone down considerably since opening. This was evident by the aromatic slop shoved into Sophie’s line of vision when she attempted to refill table 8’s ice tea.

“You call this food?”

Sophie put on her best ‘ kiss off’ customer service smile and said “ I’m sorry sir, can we bring you something else?”

“ Yeah, the manager. It’s bad enough it took forever to get here and now look at it. Your establishment should be ashamed!”

Sophie bowed her head and managed to mutter “ I will get this out of your way.” It didn’t seem to matter that her name tag said ‘hostess’ on her collar or the fact she wasn’t even the server to deliver the order, customers seemed to assume she had some sort of control that encompassed all facets of the restaurant. The familiar ache in her throat and chest began to well up, reminding her what got her worked up to begin with.

Her Great Aunt Euny’s health had been deteriorating for a year and finally it came down to the reality she needed to move into a convalescent hospital. Sophie had tried to help her as much as she knew how but after a nasty fall, Euny’s son Eddie moved back to Moonbright temporarily to get her moved out and prepare to sell the house.

Sophie and Eddie weren’t close. Eddie ran a car dealership in Narin City and would only visit occasionally for holidays. He didn’t- he never approved of Sophie living with his elderly mother. Euny was type one diabetic and insisted on being as independent as possible, including raising her grand niece since she was five.

Now the house was selling and she was told to “clear out” by the end of the month. Sophie had some savings, maybe to rent a room. She had planned to commute to Narin for school while her aunt was still healthy. So much for that now.

  
Worse still she felt like she failed Aunt Euny. This woman taught her how to maintain a home, influenced her love of animals, and provided love and patience through Sophie’s rebellious years. Now Sophie couldn’t make enough to keep her out of a nursing home let alone provide the medical care she now needed around the clock.

Then came Ted strode into the pub thirty minutes after her evening shift started with the new work schedule. Sophie’s hours had been cut more than half. She was now only scheduled to work sixteen hours a week. On minimum wage and with other bill payments, life had turned suddenly and terribly difficult. Sophie was practically homeless.

Lost in her thoughts scurrying back to the kitchen to toss the plate into the dirty dish tub she felt her body slam into something. Pam, who was juggling three plates of fish and chips with extra tartar sauce came into view.

“ Sweet Jesus!” Pam dropped all three plates, each crashing into a pile of food and ceramic. All of which landed on the floor and Sophie’s uniform.

  
“ Don’tcha look where you're going?” Pam yelled.

The noise caught the attention of the diners both at the bar and tables. An irritated looking Ted appeared from the kitchen, his office was in the room in the back. The pain in Sophie’s chest and throat now moved to her face. Tears and a sob escaped her mouth while she numbly tried to clean up the mess.

“ If you can’t keep your shit together go home!” Ted yelled. Mechanically she felt herself rise to her feet to clock out for the night. She quickly went to her locker and grabbed her jacket and purse. Without looking back she jumped into her honda crv and began to drive.  
++++

The meditative beats of her car radio began to soothe her embarrassment.

A depressing haze seemed to settle in her brain _“ what am I going to do now? Do I even still have a job? Do I even care at this point_?”

The sun was setting earlier every day in Moonbright, it was the end of October and the trees along the road were nearly bare of leaves. By 5:30 the town was practically dark. She decided to take the long way home.

Cruising down Prairie Road, she knew the traffic was minimal and the only signs of civilization were the scattered rural cottages living miles apart from each other. Sophie began to humm with the music, “ Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad, maybe this was an opportunity for- OH MY GOD!” She screeched the car into a stop nearly hitting a large dog in the road.

The dog gave the car a wide berth as it watched Sophie in the cab. From what it looked like, the dog was some sort of husky mix. It had one blue eye and one brown with a mid length shaggy coat at least from what she could see.

As beautiful as he looked to Sophie, she could see that he’d been on his own for a while. He looked thin and unkempt from living outdoors.  
Watching closely, the dog seemed cautious but curious. There were few things in life that Sophie had confidence in, in this case it was dogs. She was obsessed with dogs, well animals in general but dogs especially.

Moonbright had a stray problem and she had more than once volunteered at the local canine rescue to help socialize, walk, and even groom dogs found wandering around town. Perhaps this was a sign, maybe she wasn’t a complete loser. Carefully she parked her car on the side of the road. She had a slip lead in her glove compartment, just in case of this exact scenario.

The dog watched Sophie exit the car. Lead in hand she cautiously approached the canine, “ it’s okay, come here buddy. Maybe I can take you home?” The dog turned around and quickly walked the direction down the road.

The closer she got the quicker he trotted. “Balls” she muttered. She quickly debated on risking walking by foot via cell phone light or taking her car. The eerie breeze blowing the trees made her opt for the car.

  
Quickly hopping into the honda a new sense of purpose filled her heart. Slowly she followed the husky mix down the road, it kept its purposeful trot but did not seem to feel scared enough to run. She followed it down the main road until she saw him deviate off the path to an overgrown driveway of a boarded up house.

She parked her car watching the dog run underneath a hole under the porch. The house was far enough away from any other civilization that she wondered if investigating further was worth it, as in: was it worth it getting murdered for trying to help a stray dog.

She stepped out of the car and walked around the porch cautiously. The place did look sketchy, like an old drug den, boarded up windows and graffiti marks all over. Sophie crouched by the hole in the porch

“ Hey buddy, I know I smell weird but I can get you to some place safe...I’ll even let you lick tartar sauce off my shoes.”

  
Suddenly she heard a deep growl. Sophie suddenly found herself surrounded by three other dogs. Two of the three of them were medium sized but they both were poised to attack if she made a wrong move. “ Oh fuck,” Sophie whimpered. She stood still, her heart thumping in her chest. “ _Maybe I can run to the car in time?”_ She thought.

She debated briefly about trying to scare them away until she dropped her phone and the movement caused them to bark viciously.“ _Oh fuck”_ she repeated that’s when the largest one, a beast at least ninety lbs. lunged toward her snarling. Sophie let out a cry when suddenly she heard the sound of a gunshot. She dived to her knees and covered her head.

“What in the fuck are you doing?”

Sophie had her eyes screwed shut, she peered cautiously through her fingers. A young man, maybe 6-1 was shining a flashlight toward her and holding a handgun. The dogs had fled.

Straining she tried to see his face. Despite his grimace, he was handsome looking with light eyes. He pointed the gun at her “ The fuck are you doing here?” Sophie felt her heart race and her body tremble. She began to stutter

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry I just wanted to save the dog.” The young man smirked at her

“Lot a good that did ya.”

  
Though she was blubbering like an idiot he continued to smirk at her. He seemed more amused than angry now. “ What the hell did I get myself into?” she thought.


	2. The House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter will be short but hopefully entertaining.

Goliath stepped off the rickety porch. He had a feeling this girl wasn’t going to be a problem, at least nothing he couldn’t handle. He debated his options. 

One: he could tell her to get lost, risking her to call the cops over to his hiding spot

or Two: he can try to make nice and maybe get some help. He needed wheels to get to the train station in Moonbright and maybe some new clothes. Still, he had to be sure she wasn’t some sort of connection to the trouble he was in.

  
He shined his flashlight in front of her face. To his slight surprise she was… cute? She had dark hair with reddish highlights framing her heart-shaped face. Her lips were shaped like a cupid’s bow and he spied what he believed to be a lip ring.

She didn’t look much older than he did. She reminded him of a pretty punk girl from an 80’s music video he saw once; never thought a mullet hairstyle would look hot on a chick but damn. He briefly wondered what she looked like in the daylight.

“ You from around here?” He asked. Her green eyes were large and still wet with tears making him feel a slight tinge of guilt in his chest. She seemed a little hesitant to answer.

“ Look” he put the gun in his jeans “ I don’t want to hurt ya, but I do want to know why you’re hanging out here in the dark.”

  
“ There was a dog! I followed him here.”

  
“ uh huh. Ya just so happened to find this fucked up looking house while looking for your dog?”

  
“ Not my dog… Just a sad looking dog.”

  
As if on cue, Goliath heard something moving through the grass behind him. He whipped around aiming his gun at the corner. A large shaggy dog with pointed ears and mismatched colored eyes stood before him.

  
“ No don’t!”

  
Goliath felt the girl grasp his arm yanking it down.

  
“ The fuck?”

  
The girl latched on to him. He moved his elbow and knocked her over. She curled her lip at him, her eyes crackling like fire. _“ Well shit she’s even cuter pissed off_ ” he thought “ _alright focus, this chick could’ve made you shoot your leg off_ ”.

The dog stood there seemingly more interested watching them squabble with each other.

“ The fuck you think you were gonna accomplish grabbin’ me with a loaded gun?” He shouted.

  
“ I didn’t want you to hurt him!”

  
The dog backed away a bit, still watching. Goliath wrinkled his brow, this shit was ridiculous. She sat on the ground glaring up at him.

“ Relax I don’t want to kill the damn thing,” he offered his hand to help her up “ but I dunno what it is about this damn house but there are fucking wild dogs everywhere.”

The girl deliberately ignored his gesture and stood up herself. He could see from the dim flashlight she was wearing a waitress uniform. Her name tag reflected in the light “Sophie eh?” He said she immediately covered the tag.

Goliath laughed at her attempt. Apparently the laugh came out more menacing than intended and the girl, Sophie began backing away from him fearful. Goliath raised his hands gun and flashlight in hand attempting to show he meant no harm. “ Relax, relax” he repeated “ I don’t want to hurt ya, but as you can see” his head gesturing to his weapon in his hand“ this shit is loaded and ya can’t just tackle a person holding a gun-no matter how handsome he is.”

  
Sophie blinked at him, “ Does that actually work on women?” Goliath shrugged. “ _Salty. Alright I’ll take it_ ” he thought slightly amused by her tone. “ Just the cute ones who bite their lip ring when they’re nervous,” he said with a smile. Though it was dark he could see her glaring at him and perhaps even a faint blush on her face.

 _“ Yep still cute_ ”

  
Goliath smiled, dimples and all. “ Ya didn’t answer my question earlier, you from town or just visiting looking for scary dogs?” Sophie clearly didn’t want to answer him.

“ _Understandable_ ”, he thought. Suddenly he heard the sound of tires on gravel, both of them watched as the lights of a large truck went down the road towards the house. All amusement left his face, he grabbed Sophie by the hand who immediately fought his grip. _“ Shh! Follow me”_ he hissed, ditching the flashlight.

He felt his heart quicken, thoughts racing “ _how the fuck did they find me here_?” His thoughts went to his brother, Tora next. His image of his face, anger and disappointment. Goliath was now running, dragging Sophie behind the old house. Suddenly Sophie broke free of him, ready to scream for help when Goliath tackled her into some overgrown bushes, his hand over her mouth. “ _They ARE not help_ ” he hissed into her ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://pin.it/2VeQpXm Sophie's hairstyle reference.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been working on this story idea for a while. I am interested receiving constructive feedback and hearing people's opinions on the direction it will take. I work with dogs for a living so there will be a lot of doggy details. Also a fact, Aunt Euny's name came from a great great aunt of mine. It is short for Eunice.


End file.
